ANAHEIM, Calif. – After more than eight years away from the UFC, Robbie Lawler returned, and did so in a big way.

In his return to 170 pounds after a long run at middleweight, Lawler struggled with Josh Koscheck’s wrestling early, but when he saw an opening, he took advantage. Lawler rained down punches with Koscheck up against the fence to get a TKO stoppage in the first round.

The welterweight bout opened up the main card of Saturday’s UFC 157 event at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Koscheck threw an early kick, faked a shot moments later, then 20 seconds in planted Lawler on his back with a takedown. Lawler was able to get out and to his feet, then his knees, 30 seconds later, but Koscheck held on to him in an attempt to get things back to the canvas.

Koscheck kept control there, though without doing much damage, until Lawler was able to get back to his feet. But Koscheck held on to a single leg.

And when Lawler finally got out of Koscheck’s single-leg attempt, he had Koscheck on his hands and knees. And that’s when he saw his opening and took it. Lawler landed some big bombs with Koscheck up against the fence, nailing him with several right hands until Herb Dean stepped in to stop it at the 3:56 mark of the first.

The stoppage came perhaps prematurely, though it’s hard to imagine Koscheck getting out or Lawler stopping the punches. And Lawler concurred with that.

“I felt so good tonight,” Lawler said. “I’m not surprised it went that way. I hit him very hard – the referee was right to stop it. I whacked him, man – hard. He was doing nothing but laying down taking big shots. It’s been a long time since I was in the UFC, and besides KO’ing him with the first shot, it couldn’t have gone any better for me. There’s a lot of great 170-pound fighters here in the best organization in the world, and I will fight them all one at a time. I don’t care who is next – just give me a call and I will be ready.”

Lawler (20-9 MMA, 5-3 UFC) is back in the win column after a loss to Lorenz Larkin this past July in Strikeforce. Koscheck (17-7 MMA, 15-7 UFC) lost two straight for the first time in his career.

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